


On Focus, The Force, and How Not To Impress Your Jedi Knight Crush

by Mster70



Series: How (Not) to Fall in Love with your Jedi Training Partner [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Badass Rey, Ben Solo is a smug bastard, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Jedi Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 11:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5538929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mster70/pseuds/Mster70
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey has always looked up to Ben Solo, skilled Jedi Knight, nephew to Master Luke Skywalker, and legendary lone wolf. When Ben suddenly starts to take an interest in her, (and starts losing his shirt around her with alarming frequency), she just can't seem to catch a break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Focus, The Force, and How Not To Impress Your Jedi Knight Crush

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly OOC, since in this story Ben Solo never became Kylo Ren and is therefore a smug little shit like his dad and not the dark and brooding Vader fanboy he is in the movie.
> 
> In this little AU, Ben never was seduced to the dark side and trains as one of his uncle’s most promising Jedi Knights, while Rey is a skilled padawan with her sights set on Knighthood. Rey is 19 and Ben is 27 - I don’t know how accurate that age difference is to theirs in cannon.
> 
> Rey was sought out by Luke and taken from Jakku to train with him when she was 15 years old.  
> Also we are going to operate under the assumption that Luke decides to allow relationships/marriage between Jedi, like he did in the New Jedi Order books, but that it’s still a bit taboo.

The first time it happens, Rey is too embarrassed to show her face in the temple for a week afterward.

 

It all started innocently enough : she had been practicing some of the trickier lightsaber forms on her own when she had the realization that she wanted to try some of the techniques with a sparring partner. In hindsight, that had been where things started to go downhill.

Rey jogs up the steps to the temple, looking for no one in particular, although she knows she would benefit most from practicing with one of the Knights. Her skills surpassed most of her fellow Padawans', at least when it came to hand-to-hand or lightsaber combat - clearing her mind and finding that balance of emotionlessness and pure focus in order to most effectively channel the Force, well, that was a different matter for Rey.

As she strides through the wide arched entrance to the temple, she is surprised to note that there is only one Jedi in the large space, which is usually semi-crowded despite the impressive size of this area of the temple. She can’t see clearly who is in the room because they’re in the far corner, but she can see whoever it is is currently doing some of the saber exercises, the physically demanding ones meant to condition the upper body muscles that are used so heavily in nearly all the lightsaber forms. Rey’s optimistic that this person might be the sparring partner she’d been seeking, and walks briskly towards the opposite side of the cavernous room.

As she gets closer, she sees the figure is a tall man with long and dark hair. _Ben, then,_ she thinks, _I should have figured when I saw him alone._ Ben Solo, nephew to Master Skywalker, was legendary for his tendency to go, well, _solo_. Rey knew him to be withdrawn and serious most of the time, but he was never unkind and was one of the strongest Knights in their fledgling Jedi Order. He was eight years older than her, and though they were always civil to each other when paired together to train or when passing each other in the mess hall, Rey didn’t know much about the man and didn’t speak with him often. He intimidates her a bit, to be honest, but Rey also looks up to him for his skills and his coveted Knight status.

Rey notices as she gets closer that the older man is shirtless, something that seems a bit out of character for the normally reserved Knight. Ben turns to face her when she’s a handful of steps away from him, giving her a curt nod of acknowledgement.

“I take it you chose not to go with on Master Luke’s little... field trip, then?” he says to her, one corner of his mouth quirking up in amusement - Rey can count on one hand the number of times she has seen the man smile, so she takes this to mean that he’s in a particularly good mood today.

“Field trip?” Rey’s confused for a second, then remembers: “oh, yes, the trip to the Temple on Coruscant. I had forgotten that today was the day they were leaving. I wanted to stay here and practice a few of the more difficult forms, I thought it might be easier without younglings running around, asking for help with their drills. I came in here looking for someone to practice with.”

“It seems as though we think alike, then. I’m surprised you didn’t notice how quiet it is around here, you and I are the only ones who elected not to go with Master Luke.”

Rey realizes that it had, indeed, felt eerily quiet around the Temple and the surrounding little village that the Jedi call home. She can’t believe she’d been so distracted with training as to not notice such a glaringly large detail, and blushes with embarrassment, putting her hand to the back of her neck and quickly trying to redeem herself to Ben, “I guess I was so caught up in practicing the forms...”

“So caught up that you didn’t notice in the Force the sudden absence of over fifty Jedi?” Ben asks, his good-natured smirk blooming into a wide grin.

Rey blushes harder than she has since that time she tripped in the mess hall and spilled a whole bowl of porridge right on her Master’s immaculate-as-always robes.

Ben gives her a quick pat on the back then, the sudden physical contact startling her out of her embarrassing flashback for a moment. “It’s alright, I remember a time when I had trouble concentrating; my fellow padawans used to get quite the laugh out of sneaking up on me while I was trying to meditate,” he chuckles, the sound light and musical and not at all like his normal deep murmur.

Ben has come a few steps closer to her during their conversation, and while he waits for a Rey’s reply, he crosses his arms in front of his chest, pushing his biceps out and Rey notices suddenly the light sheen of perspiration on Ben’s upper body from the exercise - and how had she never noticed before how _broad_ his shoulders are? The room feels as though the temperature has gone up ten degrees, and Rey’s skin feels too tight, and she realizes that Ben’s waiting for her to say something back and she’s standing there with her mouth open, staring at his chest -

“Did you say you were looking for a sparring partner, Rey?” Ben says, cocking his head to one side, his grin spreading across that handsome face, framed by that luscious raven-black hair - and Rey realizes she’s staring _again_ , this time at his face which may be less damning than his naked chest, but by now he must think she’s some sort of bumbling _Bantha_.

“Uhh... I think I’m going to go meditate a bit, actually, might as well take advantage of the peace and quiet, you know, while it lasts,” she says lamely, shrugging at the tall man and moving to leave the temple through the rear archway.

“Suit yourself,” Ben says amicably, moving to pick up his wooden training saber from where he had set it down previously. “Maybe I can show you some tricks I use for better _focus_ when you have some free time,” he casually suggests, clearly being sincere but not able to resist poking fun at her just a little.

Rey can only manage a little nod, afraid anything that comes out of her mouth will condemn her even more, and she starts on her way back out of the temple. She turns to look back, feeling Ben’s eyes on her, and Rey nearly trips over her own feet when she sees his face.

 

Once she makes it out of the temple, she nearly runs back to her quarters.

 _Did he really just_ wink _at me?_

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The _second_ time it happens, Rey can’t walk comfortably for three days. (Okay, it’s not what you might think.)

 

After her previous run-in with Ben Solo in the Temple, Rey couldn’t decide whether she should be avoiding the man at all costs or seeking him out at every opportunity. The latter ended up being the reality of the situation - suddenly the raven-haired man was _everywhere_ . Rey locked eyes with him across the mess hall, he flashed his signature smirk at her whenever they passed on the training grounds, and whenever she thought she had found a private place to meditate, the smug bastard was there, always inviting her to join him (which she politely refused - she knew better than to think she could concentrate on the exercises with that kind of a... _distraction_ present).

It was nearly as confusing as it was frustrating; it wasn’t that Rey didn’t _want_ to be around the Knight, but she hadn’t really sorted out her feelings for the older man yet. She knew there was an attraction there, that was unmistakable, but Master Luke had warned about the possible dangers of romantic or physical relationships between Jedi. The code no longer forbade this, something Master Luke had changed after realizing that his own father’s secret marriage had essentially been the downfall of the previous Jedi Order. It was still not a _done thing_ , at least not openly, and extreme caution was advised when approaching these kinds of affairs.

Rey didn’t want anything to come between her and her attainment of Knight status, least of all this... _infatuation_ with Ben Solo. Part of her argued (very convincingly, really) that Ben may very well help instead of hinder her in this quest, he was a Knight himself after all, and would no doubt help to train her and encourage her to achieve her goal.

This was all assuming, however, that Ben had any sort of feelings for her, of course. And while Rey had thought his behavior might indicate some amorous interest, her experience in _those_ matters was close to nil and she didn’t really know the Knight well enough to make any real judgements on what his feelings might be anyway. She knew he _had_ been nearly everywhere she went lately, whether it be by coincidence or something more straight-forward. He had been unusually friendly to her as well, which by all accounts of the mostly solitary man was a rare thing for him indeed. She knew Ben had some friends among the Jedi, a couple of his fellow Knights who she had seen him training with or sitting with in the library and mess hall. The man was generally well-liked and admired, he just kept to himself and wasn’t usually a very warm person.

In any case, Rey didn’t intend to take any sort of action to pursue an amorous relationship with Ben. She’d continue to be friendly to him, of course, and even be his friend if that’s what he was interested in - Rey could use more friends among her fellow Jedi as it were, with her best friend Finn fighting alongside the Resistance and her dedication to her training leaving little time for socialization with her peers. She has resigned herself to his course of action the very day before Master Luke unveils his decision to pair some of the most advanced padawans with Knights in order to encourage camaraderie among the two groups and enrich both group’s training experiences.

Rey is pleased but honestly unsurprised that she is chosen as one of the padawans to be paired with a Knight, excited that this opportunity might bring her one step closer to her own Knighthood. The handful of padawans that have been chosen are waiting in one of the meeting chambers within the main Temple building, chatting among themselves and speculating who the group of Knights might be as well as who they might be paired with. When Master Luke walks in with the impressive looking group of Knights in tow, Rey’s heart jumps into her throat. Ben Solo is, _of course_ , part of the group, standing right behind Master Luke. He meets Rey’s eyes and gives her a small smile and curt nod in acknowledgement, the simple gestures releasing a horde of butterflies in her stomach. She immediately is torn between desperately wanting to be paired with the raven-haired Knight and a fierce hope that she is chosen to train with someone, _anyone_ , other than him.

Rey’s never had the best of luck, however, and the dissonance between not wanting and wanting to be partnered with Ben grows to an angry buzz behind her temples as her peers are paired off, neither Rey nor Ben being assigned to anyone yet. Master Luke is down to the last two of each group, and Rey’s so nervous she’s actually biting her nails, a habit she thought she had kicked during her smuggling days on Jakku. She chances a glance over at the source of her current state of mind, and of course the bastard is looking right at her at that moment - he gives her a knowing smile and it occurs to her that Ben could very well be _in_ on this. He’s close to his uncle Luke, perhaps he had convinced the Master to let Ben choose his partner (and he had chosen Rey based on his apparent personal vendetta to make Rey’s life as difficult as possible), or there was the possibility that all the Knights had gotten to choose their padawan partners as another perk of their station in the Order. If Ben hadn’t given her that _look_ , then she maybe would have thought they were paired by chance or by Master Luke’s judgement that they would make a good team ( _and who knows,_ Rey thinks hopefully, _we just might make an excellent team)_ , but Rey can tell without a doubt that the little shit _knows_ , and is probably even now reveling in her agitation over the whole situation.

Ben and Rey are the last two to be paired up, Ben finally coming to stand next to his new partner and giving her a respectable nod instead of the shit-eating smug grin she had honestly been expecting. Master Luke gives them a briefing on what kinds of tasks, exercises, and trainings they should be covering together and a short spiel on how he thinks the partnerships will lead to lasting friendships and an increase in both party’s skills and mastery of the Force. With that, they are dismissed to begin their first training session as partners, and each duo goes off to establish a preferred training spot and begin their exercises. Ben makes a beeline for the small equipment closet off the the main room of the Temple, fetching out two run-of-the-mill practice sabers as well as one of the speciality wooden sabers, made twice as long to emulate a double-bladed weapon, Rey’s preferred choice.

“I’m looking forward to our partnership, and I’m hopeful it will be beneficial for the both of us,” Ben says conversationally as Rey follows him out of the Temple and towards a patch of woods a short distance away. “If you don’t mind, I thought we could do some training in one of my favorite places, a little clearing that I find helps me achieve focus because it’s so peaceful and secluded.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, I don’t even really have a favorite place for training myself so I’m open to any suggestions, honestly.” she replies, managing to sound much calmer than she feels. Secluded in the woods with the object of her (possibly unrequited) affections? The idea both excites and terrifies her and she finds herself panicking, suddenly preoccupied with the types of things she had hardly spared a thought for previously - did she have bad breath and were there any stray food particles from breakfast stuck in her teeth? When was the last time she had brushed her hair? Did she smell from her vigorous hike this morning before the meeting? She mentally kicked herself, pushing the thoughts away - if Ben did like her, he would just have to put up with her the way she was; uncombed hair and possible body odor were just part of the package. Rey had never bothered with trying to impress anyone based on her outward attributes, and she certainly didn’t need to start now just because she had a _little crush_ on some hot-shot Jedi Knight.

They finish their walk to the clearing in relative silence, exchanging a little small talk about the goings-on around the Jedi village and their thoughts on the padawan-Knight assignments. When they reach the clearing, Ben tosses her the longer practice saber, testing the weight of the other two standard-sized pieces of equipment and settling on one, leaving the other leaning against a tree at the edge of their training grounds.

“I’m intrigued by the double-bladed style and have heard Master Luke praise your abilities with the weapon. We’ll start with a standard spar to the first blow, I’d like to get a better sense of your abilities before we delve into any formal training,” Ben shucks off the dark brown outer layer of his robe as he speaks, tossing the garment off to the side where it should be out of the way of their sparring.

“It’s something I picked up on Jakku, where a staff was a convenient multi-tool as well as a powerful weapon if you knew how to wield it properly,” she replies, taking a few steps back and dropping into a defensive stance, weight on the balls of her feet and running through the exercises to clear her mind and focus, sighing as she feels the Force torrent through her.

Ben runs at her suddenly, not giving her a single spare heartbeat to prepare for their match. His speed is impressive, his physicality working in tandem with the Force as he darts around Rey, looking for an opening in her defenses. She’s not going to go down so easily, however, and her double sided weapon is whirling fast enough that it would appear to be a single solid disk to the eyes of an observer. She realizes she’ll tire faster than the Knight, with all of his raw physical strength, and she gracefully moves from a defensive form to an offensive one in a fraction of a heartbeat, suddenly striking back at Ben and advancing on on him in her attack. She gains some ground momentarily while Ben himself reacts to her change in stance and moves to parry her flurry of attacks.

Their bodies dance around each other as each fighter refuses stubbornly to give an inch of quarter, blades whirling and breaths coming in pants with their exertion now. Rey loses track of time, her mind numbed to all but the _clack_ of the wooden sabers and the complicated steps and forms they flow through nearly effortlessly. Her muscles begin to ache after an indeterminate amount of time, however; she knows she’s not conditioned to fighting with this caliber of an opponent for this length of time, and the wiry girl starts getting more desperate, beginning a merciless onslaught of blows down onto the Knight.

Rey comes remarkably close to striking a blow to Ben’s shoulder, then his right arm, nearly slipping past his defense but having her hit turned away by his own practice saber at the last instant. She thinks she sees an opening and lunges, knowing she’s leaving herself open at her back, but not caring, because she’s so close to making the first blow, besting the Knight in their first match and proving her abilities to him -

and then Ben is suddenly _not there_ anymore, vanished from in front of her, her chance gone. She has a millisecond to be confused before she realizes that he’s now _behind_ her, somehow having managed to move so fast with the aid of the Force that she didn’t even see it happen. She knows it’s too late, her back is totally unprotected, and in her crouched position she can’t turn around fast enough to even attempt to parry. His blow comes down on the back of her left thigh, full force and accompanied by a sharp _crack_ , shooting pain up and down her leg and into her back. She stumbles to the ground, clutching her thigh and rolling to her side in pain - she’s suffered worse in other sparring matches, without a doubt, but it’s hard to remember that when she’s on the ground feeling pained and humiliated in front of her new partner.

Ben reaches out a hand to her, and Rey takes it. He pulls her up and she dusts off her robes, cheeks burning with embarrassment at her loss.

“It seems Master Luke speaks truly about your abilities. You fought extremely well, although there are a few things we need to work on, obviously. First, we’ll do some of the basic drills,” he says, starting to undo the wide belt around his tunic he speaks, “I know they’re tough and they seem basic, but you’d be amazed what a difference they can make in your speed and strength.” Ben finishes, pulling the flowy tunic over his head and now clad only in loose linen pants. _He knows exactly what game he’s playing,_ Rey thinks, trying resolutely to not stare at his chest, his arms, the deep vee starting above his hips and leading -

“It’s going to be physically demanding work, so you might want to lose the outer robe, at least,” he adds, flashing a predatory smile, full of teeth and accompanied by a spark of what can only be arousal in his eyes.

 

Rey limps to the spot where she dropped her practice saber, rubbing the spot on the back of her thigh where she can already feel the bruise forming as she bends to retrieve it, and thinks _I am so royally screwed_.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

The _third_ time it happens, Rey finally gets some long-awaited payback.

 

Days and weeks pass mostly uneventfully after Rey and Ben are paired up and begin their training in earnest. At least Rey considers their daily routines to be “uneventful” now that she has accepted the new normal, consisting of Ben’s overly-friendly attitude towards his padawan partner and her near-hourly bouts of sexual frustration over the attractive Jedi Knight. Rey’s given up on denying to herself that she doesn’t have a crush on Ben, doesn’t want to jump his bones after every sweaty and intense training session, doesn’t fall asleep thinking about how she could wipe that smug grin off his face and wake up tangled in her sheets, dream-visions of the older man’s toned body underneath her own quickly fading as she blinks the sleep out of her eyes.

The ugly mottled bruise from their first sparring match fades quickly, and Rey finds herself strangely disappointed as the mark transforms from purple to green to a pale yellow and finally disappears completely. In the multitude of sparring sessions that follow their first, however, Rey gives and gets her fair share of bruises, finally learning to read the Knight’s fighting style and getting past his defences to land several admirable hits - she can barely hold back her whoops of victory each time she manages to best the man, but she knows no one likes a show-off (even if she _totally_ deserves to rub it in after that one solid blow to his ribs the leaves him rolling on the ground for three minutes).  

In addition to sparring and completing a variety of difficult (and _so_ tedious) drills, Ben also subjects Rey to training of the mental variety. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he could teach her some tricks to gain focus when she had bumped into him that first time in the Temple, and Rey has noticed her concentration and awareness improving bit by bit after each session.

Today’s exercise in _focus_ had so far included reaching out with the Force to count the number of beetles on a given tree around the little clearing they consider “their” training grounds, a frustrating and monotonous task (why couldn’t the little shits give her a break and just _sit still_ on the leaves?) but one Rey would not let conquer her no matter how many times she had to count and recount the tiny pinpricks of light in the Force. She’d do it a thousand times if she had to, refusing to give up until Ben was finally satisfied with her tally.

“Three hundred and fifty... seven?” Rey finally says, eyes tightly closed and brow furrowed in concentration. When she didn’t hear Ben’s immediate answer (he had been quick to respond with “wrong. count again.” for every other answer she had provided, being the pompous asshat he is), she snapped her eyes open to see Ben staring right at her, mouth stretched in a real grin this time instead of his customary sly smirk.

“Excellent, Rey, that is correct!” He leans over to give her a congratulatory pat on the back, contact sparking along her nerves as his warm, large hand lingers over her shoulder just a heartbeat longer than one would expect from a friendly gesture. “When Master Luke first set me to that particular task, I worked at it for nearly five hours before stomping off in frustration - he wouldn’t let me practice with the saber until after I had been successful in the exercise, and it took me two more three hour sessions before I finally got the count right.” Ben laughs freely at this, and Rey’s chest puffs up with pride. It wasn’t often that Rey was better at completing a task than Ben (or at least that Ben _admitted_ to Rey being better) so she took full advantage when she could, basking unashamedly in her (admittedly quite petty) triumph.

“Your skills are improving more quickly than I anticipated, and I am most impressed with how you’ve handled the training thus far,” he beams at her.

“Thank you, Ben,” she grins back, his smile infectious to her as always. The tall man pushes himself to his feet, reaching a hand down to Rey to help her up from her cross-legged position on the spongy ground of the clearing. His grin transforms into a wicked smirk one they are standing face to face, his eyes developing a predatory gleam suddenly. Rey’s stomach drops, knowing the look: he’s about to give her a _real_ challenge now, something not so easily overcome.

“I believe you’re ready for more the more advanced exercises, now. We’ll need to change our training grounds for tomorrow’s session - meet me in the steam room at our usual training time tomorrow.”

Rey knows she must look outwardly bewildered, because Ben gives a little snort-laugh at her expression. Rey blushes and nods at the raven-haired man, answering him with a curt “of course” and grabbing her previously-discarded outer robe off the ground, shrugging it on as she waits to be dismissed.

Ben turns away, slinging his own robe over one shoulder ( _like he’s some kind of damned hot-shot holovid star_ , Rey thinks) and starting back towards the Jedi village. As he strides away, he turns back to Rey and says over his shoulder, “Oh, and don’t forget to dress appropriately. In case you weren’t aware, it tends to get rather... _hot_ in the sauna.”

 

Rey curses the stupidly tall, stupidly smug, stupidly handsome and stupidly _stupid_ Knight as she walks back to her quarters, wondering what in the Force her training partner could have in store for them tomorrow. She had heard about Jedi using the Temple’s steam room for meditation, but had never ventured there herself, having experienced enough overheating during her time on Jakku. As much of a bastard as Ben could be, his training so far had always been highly effective and she trusted his judgement, even if he thought practicing in the stupid sauna would help improve her focus in using the Force.

In the morning, she contemplates and debates exactly what might constitue _appropriate_ dress for the sauna. Obviously she won’t need her heavy outer robe, and the belt, sturdy boots, and long sleeve tunic she usually dons for their training sessions seem unnecessary as well. She settles on loose, mid-calf length pants and a sleeveless tunic - the combination had never let her down in Jakku’s desert heat, so surely it will suffice for the steam room. She chooses her least-stained breast band to wear under the tunic just in case it turns out to be truly that stifling in the sauna, her heart fluttering nervously at the thought of baring so much skin in front of the older Jedi, but the practical side of her knowing that she’ll go (mostly) topless if she needs to in order to stay comfortable.

After she’s finished dressing, she jogs to the temple, realizing her deliberation over suitable clothing for the unusual training session had put her behind her normally precise schedule. She finds the steam room quickly, having sought it out yesterday evening in preparation so she at least knew where to go and didn’t embarrass herself more than usual in front of her partner by getting lost in the Temple. She opens the door hesitantly, sensing that Ben is already in the room and is alone. As she steps in, she’s immediately assaulted by oppressive heat, somehow more intense than even some of the hottest days on Jakku - the weight of the moisture in the air making her skin prickle as she starts to sweat before she’s even closed the door behind her.

The room is dim, but her eyes adjust quickly to the light and she uses the Force to enhance her nightvision slightly - a handy trick Ben had taught her during their second week of training. She sees Ben, then, sitting crossed-legged in the traditional meditation stance and _of course, with my luck,_ Rey notices, sans shirt and shoes, clad only in a pair of loose dark pants. _What kind of grudge does this man hold against shirts?_ she thinks as she closes the door behind her. She takes in the rest of the Knight’s appearance, noticing his long hair is tied in a top knot, like a miniature and singular version of the triple-knot Rey customarily wears. He doesn’t look up as Rey steps into the center of the room, instead beckoning her to join him voicelessly by giving her hand a gentle tug forward with the Force.

She allows Ben to tow her by the hand until she is standing in front of where he sits, and she wordlessly joins him on the stony ground, mirroring his position and waiting for the Knight’s instruction. Rey uses her recently-improved focus to keep her mind clear for the task ahead, avoiding looking at or thinking about the expanse of naked and sweat-slicked torso not two feet in front of her, because she knew the owner of said torso would be able to pick up her... _feelings_ regarding his physique if she dwelt on it for more than a few seconds. _Why is it that I always find myself in these situations with him? It’s not like the other Knights walk around flaunting_ their _chests during -_ the thought cutting off abruptly as an image of Master Luke walking around the Temple tunic-less suddenly pops into her head, and she cannot ever _unsee_ that. Ben lets out a deep breath and raises his head, blessedly disrupting Rey’s inadvertent mental image of their grizzled master partially undressed.

“Today’s lesson revolves around maintaining focus despite being in a physically demanding and distracting situation. The heat in the sauna will serve as a mild physical nuisance, and as the session continues I will increase the temperature of the chamber and add other minor physical irritants, simulating being an a hostile environment - like a swamp with biting midges, for example. I want you to simply keep your mind clear of all emotions and distractions despite what’s going on around you. Are you ready to begin?”

“Whenever you are,” Rey replies, steeling herself with a deep breath of the moisture-saturated air and beginning to form a void in her mind, letting the Force flow through her freely.

At first, Ben does nothing except sit across from her - the heat is of the room is already intense and the sweat is starting to work its way through Rey’s light tunic, but she has little difficulty maintaining her focus. Time blurs for Rey, as it often does during her more successful meditation sessions, and she slowly becomes aware that the ambient temperature is increasing, the air around them growing thicker and the heat finally starting to affect Rey as she feels beads of sweat start to form and roll down her temples, one particularly irritating droplet traveling from between her breasts down to her navel.

She lets out a huff of frustration and hurriedly strips off her tunic, thankful she hadn’t worn one of her stained and nearly threadbare breast bands afterall. Rey is so warm and the relief of removing the thin and sweat-soaked garment is so great that she can’t bring herself to mind that she’s nearly half naked in front of Ben. The tall man had apparently broken his own focus when he heard Rey struggling to remove her tunic; Rey sees his eyes open briefly as her own are open to find a suitable place to chuck the damp shirt, and feels a jolt of surprise and something she thinks she recognizes as arousal emanate off him through the Force.

 _A taste of your own medicine,_ Rey thinks with a smirk of her own. She hones back in on the task quickly, determined to overcome any obstacle Ben throws at her to try to distract her focus. With the heat increased, nothing changes again for another set of uncounted minutes, until Rey suddenly feels a light pressure on her shoulder blade. The pressure settles, unmoving for a few heartbeats, then slides down her back like the phantom of a fingertip tracing ancient ruins on the slick expanse of skin.

Soon the single point of pressure is joined by another, starting in her upturned palm this time and tracing a few lazy circles before traveling slowly up her arm and over the sharp angles of her collarbones. Rey grits her teeth, fighting to shove the sensations to the back of her mind, trying to feel without really _feeling_ , not letting Ben distract her from her only task. She refuses to be beaten at today’s exercise, wanting to show Ben that she is capable of great focus so they can go back to working on the good stuff: saber forms and telekinesis techniques.

Her focus starts to shatter when she feels the phantom touch slide past her collarbone, skimming feather-light over the underside of one breast, then sliding over her sternum and down, _down_ , like a whirlpool around her navel, tracing the jutting plane of a hipbone. Rey resolutely refuses to break, clenching her jaw until it aches as she struggles to push out the sensations attempting to overwhelm her.

Rey’s focus is broken not by the phantom pressure, but instead when Ben lets out a ragged, gasping breath, standing up abruptly. Rey’s eyes shoot open and she looks up at Ben, chest flushed and heaving as he deeply inhales the humid air. Rey stands up, then, quirking an eyebrow at the Knight, and noticing that his pants seem to be lying funny over his crotch, sticking out almost as though - _oh_.

Rey can’t stop the wicked grin she can feel spreading over her face, and she is equally powerless to stop the taunt that rises to her lips, “having a little trouble with your _focus_ , Ben?”

The wide eyed look on the older man’s face is _priceless,_ even more so when Rey casually crosses her arms over her chest and Ben flushes redder than the twin moons of Tatooine when she catches his instinctual glance at her pushed-up breasts.

“My apologies, Rey,” he starts, voice cracking on the last syllable causing him to blush even harder, a shade of red Rey hadn’t known human skin was capable of attaining. “I... uh, got a little carried away there. I hope there are no hard feelings between us, now?”

Rey has to bite her lip to keep from laughing out, because the normally oh-so-smooth Knight _clearly_ had not thought that out before speaking it. Revenge was oh-so sweet, indeed.

“Don’t worry Ben, I certainly don’t have any _hard_ feelings about it,” she starts, tilting her head to the side and still biting the inside of her cheek to contain her mirth, “but maybe you do?” She finishes, making sure to school her face and give him a completely innocent look.

 

Rey grabs her tunic, slipping it over her head and she strides out of the room. She doesn’t need to look behind her to know Ben’s expression - eyes bugged out, blushing fiercely, and holding the tunic he’d so nonchalantly discarded before in front of his now-tented pants.

 _The tables have turned_ , Rey thinks as she struts out of the temple, _we’ll see who’s the bumbling Bantha now._

**Author's Note:**

> now that I've released this fluffy little plot bunny, I'll go back to my other story, I promise!
> 
> Do expect some other one shots in this 'verse in the future, though!
> 
> I'd love it if you'd stop by and say hi on [tumblr](http://mster70.tumblr.com)!


End file.
